Would quite like one, but….

23 may 2023

On Poole harbour before the ferry to the channel isles.

My type of bike, at least you can’t fall off easily. maybe a little big.

This is my type of boat.

Sadly I am never likely to have one of these. But you can dream….

First night on holiday – in the car park

22 may 2023

First night of our holiday in a pub car park.

The Bakers Arms, Poole. Not a bad place to stay, food and drink pretty good.

Following morning off to Kingston Lacey (NT place). Again a nice place.

Off on holiday

22 may 2023

Off in the Motorhome on holiday.

First stop a little village near Bedford to have a look at another car. My little weakness, I think the collection will be growing shortly. ?

Then called into the local Baptist church (Bromham) for lunch. Lovely friendly place, and the food was v cheap.

Very different building compared to our church.

Moggy event

21 may2023

Lovely moggy event at Great British Car Journeys in Ambergate.

Lots of Moggys there to celebrate 75 years.

Looks lovely and a lot spent on it, BUT valued at £35k. Now that is expensive.

Tissington welldressing

18 may 2023

A quick trip to tissington welldressing. A pleasant few hours. Only downside the huge queues for coffee #FirstWorldProblem

As usual a lot of work has gone into them.

6 wells this year. Plus a number of stalls.

Community help

11 may 2023

Helping the community.

Had a good week, yesterday I was at one of the local schools exploring the options for a ‘forest school’, combining support from the council and the Men’s shed. Today it’s a village playground that needs some work.

Traffic chaos

9 may 2023

Meeting with parish councillors and county council highways to explore options to improve the peak time issues with congestion in the village as a result of traffic going to Denstone college.

Denstone village isn’t designed or capable of coping with the large volume of traffic going to/from the college. This has got much worse since the prep school moved to the main site in Denstone.

Everyone is trying to improve the situation. But the reality is we will be tinkering at the edges and unlikely to make a significant improvement. Add to this the county council says they haven’t got any money to make a material difference. Sadly the county can only find money when a serious accident occurs and the junctions are deemed very dangerous.

There are potential radical long term solutions. The village needs a bypass taking the traffic straight to the college instead of through the village. Funded from the college?? Or by building houses and getting the developer to fund the road. Neither likely, but doing nothing, things will only get worse.

Lots of training

9 may 2023

Today is the start of the councillor induction programme. I understand the need for training to make sure we do things right. But 25 sessions feels a little excessive although some are optional.

It is better than last time, with returning councillors not having to attend some. However it doesn’t consider individuals. I was cabinet member for finance but I had to listen to a 2.5hr session on finance. Similarly, I spent over 30 years in IT but I have to attend a session on how to use outlook and office.

Let the fun begin….